Great Keppel Island - A Day Trip Snorkeling Off The Capricorn Coast
- David Clouston
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of snorkeling at Great Keppel Island, a beautiful island off the central Queensland coast.
In the morning sunshine we boarded the Friday ferry from Keppel Bay Marina (Keppel Konnections was the name of the ferry service).
After a 35 minute ferry ride we arrived at Great Keppel Island and birthed at Fisherman Beach. The ferry rode right up on the sand - not at a wharf - it just went right up on the sand.
The white sand was white.
Coming from New Zealand, while we do have some white sand beaches on the East Coast, the sand is not as white as it is in Queensland.
Great Keppel Island is almost at the same latitude as Rarotonga - and as we went in November, it was warm!!!
We picked up our snorkel, mask, and flippers from Keppel Dive & Water Sports and then took another short ferry ride to Monkey Bay (a marine reserve).
The water was just right for swimming, not cold! and not too hot either (it was tropical!).
One of the friends told us we need to swim out to the reef to see the fish.
It took some time to swim out to the reef, but once I arrived I started seeing different fish. I saw a clam, and then I saw a yellow and blue fish. There were many small fish and some schools of fish in different sizes.
I liked swimming freely in the ocean. The water was still and not wavy. The flippers made it easy to stay afloat, and although I'm not a strong swimmer, it was easy to swim quite far off the beach.
After relaxing in the bay, we caught a ferry ride back to Fisherman Beach (the main beach).
A stunning bar/restaurant overlooking the white sands and blue water is located at Fisherman Beach (also known as the Great Keppel Island Holiday Village). It was hard to believe the climate could be so different from NZ (in November it is not hot like this 🤣).
The restaurant had no walls, with only a roof - probably because it gets so hot here.
It was lovely to relax, drink, and smile.
I was grateful to be here with family and friends.
At the end of the day, we caught the ferry back to the marina on the mainland.
It was a dream being on the island.
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